Ever wonder why your container gardening plants either do not grow as expected or acquire diseases such as rot or blight? The main culprit to these problems is having an incorrect potting medium. It is your medium which ultimately determines what essential nutrients will become available for your plants.
The following are tips in mixing your own potting medium for container gardening:
- · Assess the potting medium environment that will facilitate plant growth. Loam usually forms the basic component of your medium. It is richer than the ordinary dirt because of having decaying organic matter. Depending on whether your plants would need a wet or dry environment is where you need to vary the proportion of sand and clay. Plants of the succulent type will require higher proportion of sand, which facilitates water draining. Plants requiring higher moisture content will need higher percentage of clay that retains water.
- · Determine what nutrients your plant needs. Because plants require different concentration of nutrients for optimal growth, your potting medium should reflect these requirements. The ordinary dirt is mostly devoid of your nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium (NPK), which are the major nutrients required by plants. Rather than applying synthetic fertilizer, you can research what organic materials are high in N, P, or K.
- · Add in a mix of special potting medium. There are a lot of materials you can add to your potting medium for specialized plant needs. Horticultural perlite comes from volcanic ash and is best for plants that need stable soil pH at all times. Sphagnum moss is for plants that require good aeration in the container gardening potting mixture. Coir fiber from coconut husk makes for medium with high water use efficiency.
Research what your plants need and incorporate these when mixing your potting medium. Most of all, you need to sterilize your pots before use to enhance its disease preventing capacity.